A very good achievement by Celtic to come second in a difficult group and reach the knockout stages. Nice for the Scottish UEFA coefficient as well. This is the 3rd time in 7 years that Celtic have beaten Benfica to 2nd place in a Champions League group, as they also did it in 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 as well.

Funny to see to Chelsea becoming the first defending champions to fail to reach the knockout stages since the group stage was introduced in 1992/1993. Still much better to win the tournament one year and crash out early the next, than to go close but narrowly miss out on the title 2 or more years in a row.

Hopefully Valencia get as generous a draw as possible in the next round. The only time that a La Liga team outside the twin forces of evil reached the last 8 of this competition in the last 5 seasons was Villarreal in 2008/2009.

sometimes it's relevant to get the right scores with BAD performances. And that's what they unfortunately did in last May.

Wouldn't say they were bad performances, sure they were dominated by Barca and Bayern but their catenaccio was done to complete perfection against two technically superior sides (with a bit of luck from the missed Messi and Robben penalty kicks) and it won them the cup the same way Liverpool did.

Gotta say both competitions have a tasty 2nd round line up especially with RM the second placed wildcard. I hope Celtic or Dortmund go all the way- Celtic cause of the fans and Dortmund for the club, fans and the dynamic brand of footy. Basically though anyone not RM, Barca, Mancs or Bayern for the novelty effect.

i dedicate a Scottish win over Portugal to Machado & Gil aka the villas Boas fanboy and PedroMarquez

Thank you. But it's Benfica, I don't really care about them

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocketassist

Wouldn't say they were bad performances, sure they were dominated by Barca and Bayern but their catenaccio was done to complete perfection against two technically superior sides (with a bit of luck from the missed Messi and Robben penalty kicks) and it won them the cup the same way Liverpool did.

Gotta say both competitions have a tasty 2nd round line up especially with RM the second placed wildcard. I hope Celtic or Dortmund go all the way- Celtic cause of the fans and Dortmund for the club, fans and the dynamic brand of footy. Basically though anyone not RM, Barca, Mancs or Bayern for the novelty effect.

Europa league does look good but most of those teams will see it more like a burden. I don't really like to give them credit but you're talking about European history and Benfica probably has more then all those clubs you just mentioned.

Justice done, Chelsea eliminated. Two years in a row that England has lost two teams in group stages.

Would've preferred to see Benfica and Cluj go through over Celtic and Galatasary but in the end they are all irrelevant.

Bayern, Dortmund, Barca, Real Madrid and Juve are the 5 teams capable of winning it in my opinion. Maybe Man U or PSG with a ton of luck.

Can't be bothered to dig out the quotation from about thirty pages back, but selyoink, I definitely recall you predicting Shakhtar and Juventus would go through, and I think you made it after Matchday one. Kudos. You were absolutely right.

I agree about your top five. Can't see PSG winning it, even with a ton of luck, the Mancs could, given the experience a lot of the squad has of winning trophies, but the five you mentioned first are the main contenders.

Hoping Dortmund or Juve win, just for something different to what we've been exposed to in the last few years.

Would Juve finally not choke in the European Cup after going in to the 97, 98 and 03 finals as favourites. They've got a great side in a similar mould to Dortmund and topping the group will have made life a bit easier for them.

Europa league does look good but most of those teams will see it more like a burden. I don't really like to give them credit but you're talking about European history and Benfica probably has more then all those clubs you just mentioned.

I forgot them but yeah they're definitely one of the clubs with pedigree in that competition. Should have won tonight but couldn't finish.

Both are faulty to be honest. Goal difference favors the side playing the weak team in the group on the last match day giving them a chance to just hammer the team as Chelsea did today. Plus presumably Shakhtar would've played with a different urgency today had their qualification not been assurred.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay Death

i add value to mtf. mtf needs me far more than i need mtf. i have even been offered money (a small monthy salary) to hang out and chill at a couple of other forums.

Can't be bothered to dig out the quotation from about thirty pages back, but selyoink, I definitely recall you predicting Shakhtar and Juventus would go through, and I think you made it after Matchday one. Kudos. You were absolutely right.

I also remember this, I think I said don't be surprised to see them go through over Chelsea. Shakhtar were always going to be underrated just because they play in Ukraine.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay Death

i add value to mtf. mtf needs me far more than i need mtf. i have even been offered money (a small monthy salary) to hang out and chill at a couple of other forums.

Would Juve finally not choke in the European Cup after going in to the 97, 98 and 03 finals as favourites. They've got a great side in a similar mould to Dortmund and topping the group will have made life a bit easier for them.

2003 final was a joke. Dida was saving penalties 3 meters away from the goal. And with Nedved available it would have been a walk in the park.

In 98' Madrid won because of a goal in off-side (it was a bad match anyway).

97' was a bad choke. Juve played horrible that final. I don't know why but Del Piero didn't start that match. He came in with Juve losing and scored but it was already too late.